Spoilers for/tag to episode 6.25 O Ke Ali'l Wale No Ka'u Makemake (My Desire is Only for the Chief) aired 5/13/16.
A/N This picks up exactly where the episode left off. The two episodes tonight were very good, right up until the last scene. That was simply awful – and to think that if it wasn't renewed they would have ended the entire series that way - with nobody giving a damn about Danny. Scott pulled it off with his usual mastery (evidenced by his previous Golden Globe and other nominations) but story wise it was truly disappointing. I understand that they wanted to finish with everybody worshipping Steve but having everybody laugh because nobody cared about Danny was just so wrong. Not even a thanks for saving my life two times from Steve. Again, Scott pulled it off beautifully, ranting about how Steve was ungrateful, but it would have been so much better with a more heart-warming script. In short, they finished with banter when I wished they'd finished with bromance.
Loved bamf Danny, and Scott was so incredibly amazing in that plane, too. The way he made his voice quiver just a bit at times was awesome. We could see Danny just barely holding himself together as he was presented with (another) dying best friend, a plane to land, and a bad guy holding a gun on him.
According to some research I've done, the donor and recipient for a liver transplant are in the hospital about the same length of time and have about the same recovery, just some anti-rejection drugs for the recipient. Let's see if Steve and Danny are both at the same stage of recovery when they start season 7. My guess – Danny will be fine and everybody will be fussing over Steve again.
I wrote this a little bit at a time since last night's ep, in between cooking, cleaning, chauffeuring… all that mom stuff. If I had more time, I'd review it and polish it up (ask julieb716, she'll tell you), but I need to get back to Charade, so here it is- as is. All mistakes are mine.
I do not own Hawaii Five-0 or any of the characters. If I did, Danny would stay funny, sarcastic, anxious, sexy… yet be shown a little care and respect by his teammates.
H50 H50 H50
When Danny pulled the curtain closed on Steve he moved and turned to his side and pulled the covers up around his shoulders. It was getting a bit cold in the room. All the warm fuzzy's had been sent Steve's way, Danny thought, probably nice and cozy on that side of the room.
"I know you can hear me," Steve continued to say from the other side. "Open the curtain."
"Just watch your soap opera and let me sleep," Danny replied.
"Open the curtain, Danny."
"Let me sleep." Danny shifted, trying to get comfortable.
Steve reached over and opened the curtain. "What's your problem?"
"I don't have a problem," Danny replied rolling onto his back again. "You had a problem and now it's fixed."
"You're jealous because I got a few get well cards."
Danny nearly growled but controlled himself. He wasn't jealous: he was hurt, upset, maybe even angry, but not jealous. Being jealous would involve begrudging Steve the get-well wishes he had received and Danny couldn't do that. He was happy Steve was alive and well, truly happy.
"I'm not jealous, Steve. I'm happy for you, man. I'm happy you have so many people who care about you. You have quite the ohana. Me? I've got two great kids and that's all I need."
Steve was silent for a moment, trying to process everything. The drugs made thinking a bit difficult. "You have more than those two kids, Danny."
"Whatever you say, Steven." He couldn't help the hurt that showed though his voice. "Just forget it. I'm tired, I'm cold, I'm nauseous, my chest hurts..."
"No, I'm not going to forget it, Danny. You have much more ohana than Grace and Charlie."
"Oh yeah? Well, with ohana like that, who needs Rachel?"
"What are you talking about?"
"It doesn't matter," Danny told him. As he pushed the hurt aside, anger began to replace it.
"The hell it doesn't."
"You're alive and you're going to be okay. That's all that matters. In a few months you'll be back to your Rambo, Super SEAL ways charging head first into all kinds of trouble and your ohana will have your back. The Governor will probably even give you an award for taking down that drug ring."
"You took down that drug ring, Danny, actually two drug rings from what I've heard and you saved my life twice, all in one day."
Danny was silent, which always threw Steve off.
"Danny, talk to me." Steve's voice was softer now. He realized there was more to this than he was seeing. "What's going on?"
Danny's silence continued, his mind whirling with pain, both physical and emotional.
"Danno?"
When he finally spoke his voice was quiet with a tiny quiver. "It just hurts, Steve, okay? I'm not jealous. They love you. So do I, babe but this…" he waved his arm around to indicate the plethora of balloons, flowers and gifts on Steve's side of the room and the total barrenness of his side. He swallowed hard. "This hurts."
Steve was ready to continue the argument, but Danny's words stopped him cold. He glanced around the room at the flowers, balloons and cards. All for him and none for Danny. When Danny had made comments before Steve had rolled his eyes, mocking him. Now, he understood; Danny wasn't jealous, he was hurt – and he had every right to be. "Shit Danny. I'm sorry."
"Okay, so now you know. This ohana you have, it's great. Happy for you, like I said, but I'm just the unwanted step-brother that's been forced into the picture."
"It's not like that Danny."
"It's not? Then what is it? Am I being overly sensitive here?" He waved his arm around the off-balance room again. "Screw it. Screw them. I don't care."
Steve couldn't explain why nobody had brought a thing to Danny, why Steve had received cards from all over and Danny had only received calls from his family in New Jersey. Steve couldn't explain it and he didn't like it. Maybe, he thought, they were following his lead. Steve knew he hadn't yet thanked Danny, hadn't yet truly acknowledged what he had done for him. The plane, taking down all those bad guys, the days he missed with the kids because he was in the hospital, the things he'd miss with the kids over the next month or so as he healed, half his liver for crying out loud. Danny had done something heroic, actually many things. All Steve had done was almost die.
"Danny, I…" Steve paused. Why was this so hard? He choked back the sob that threatened to break through. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." What else could Danny say?
"That was an entirely unsatisfactory thank you, wasn't it?" Steve asked. "I should have said it before. I should have said it many times before. I should have told your kids and everybody else how thankful I am to you." Maybe if he had acknowledged Danny's selfless sacrifice earlier, the others would have also. Instead, he had belittled it, belittled Danny, and even joked that his son would grow to hate him. "And I'm sorry."
"Whatever."
"No, really, what you did for me that day – you not only saved my life, you risked yours twice to do it. And,… you gave me a part of you. I mean, seriously, you… ."
"I'd do it again in a heartbeat." Danny was quiet for a moment before speaking again. He had wanted to talk about this all week but it never seemed the right time. "The guy who shot you, he was at the hangar when we raided it. I recognized him. He tried to get away and I followed." In typical Danny fashion, once he started talking he couldn't stop. "Lucky for me he'd been hit in the leg because I wasn't moving very fast by that point. Then he was on the ground, unarmed and I had my gun aimed right between his eyes and I just wanted him to pay for what he did to you." Fighting to stay in control of his emotions, he paused.
"Danny? What did you do?" Steve asked, suddenly very concerned. Danny's whole tone and body language was worrisome. He knew what Danny was capable of when truly provoked, when pushed too far. He'd seen it, seen the devastating physical and emotional consequences that Danny had suffered, and in fact still suffered because of it.
Danny's voice was a strangled rasp. "He could have killed you. He almost killed you. He tried to kill you, tried to kill my brother."
"What did you do?"
"He taunted me. Told me to shoot him. Damn, it was like Reyes all over again."
"Danny…" was all Steve said.
"I almost killed him, Steve. I was this close to pulling the trigger." It felt good to get that confession off his chest, to admit out loud that a part of him wanted to shoot that man right between the eyes for hurting his brother.
"But you didn't…"
"But I didn't."
Steve let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. "Good."
"Yeah."
"I love ya buddy," Steve said.
"Love ya too, babe. Now watch your stupid soap opera and let me sleep.
Four months later…..
Danny and Steve were both back on full duty now. The day after their talk, Danny was released and Eric had brought him home. Two days after that, Steve was released and Chin, Kono and Lou were all there to get him settled in his home. They set up a schedule to help him with chores and meals. Neither patient was allowed to drive yet so their own personal contact was limited.
There had been many, many hours of long, hard physical therapy for both Danny and Steve in order to get them back on their feet, followed by many hours in the gym to get them back in top physical condition. For Danny, there had been many hours with his kids that he had missed as he healed, but he still wouldn't have changed his decisions for anything.
Danny never spoke to the other teammates about how their treatment had hurt him. He buried it inside and covered it up with joking and bantering about the subject instead.
Now they were ready to take down some bad guys. They had met in front of an old warehouse. Steve had been driving, of course. Chin, Kono and Lou had pulled up behind them. Already sporting their Tac vests, they had stepped out of the vehicles and gone over the plan. Chin, Kono and Lou would go around to the back. Steve and Danny would go in through the front. Now they were on the move.
"We really should wait for back-up," Danny said yet again.
"That'll take too long."
"This is a really bad plan, Steve. I don't want to get shot at today. We haven't been back on full duty for a week yet."
"You have a better idea?"
"Yeah, wait for back-up," Danny replied, but no matter how much he objected to Steve's plans, no matter how much he knew they'd be better off waiting for back-up, Danny would always have his partner's back.
"No time," Steve said as he was spotted and a shot was fired in their direction.
"There would be if we had waited!" Danny shouted.
"There's at least six of them," Steve said.
Wonderful! "Take care of my liver," Danny replied before they both made their move to go after the bad guys.